I'll put my two-cents in. One of my favorite film noir movies. Has everything: Rain, murder, mystery and drama. I thought Stanwyck and Douglas child actors were perfect in their parts because they looked much like Stanwyck and Douglas as grown. However, Hickman and excellent didn't look anything like Van Heflin. Hickman had natural black hair and Heflin is totally blonde and they looked nothing like each other. Lizabeth still young in the movies was passable but lacked being a great actress even later.

This movie tried much too hard to be clever. It was too full of talk, too desperate to get by on Double Indemnity's coattails, stuck with an actress playing Toni (Lizabeth Scott) who fancied herself as Lauren Bacall. There was certainly nothing original about Barbara Stanwyck's character, or her performance. No way would I bother watching again.

I love Barbara Stanwyck and Kirk Douglas. This film has a 'twist' at the end so it in and of itself is a great film. I used The Video Cellar's print as it is the best! I loved the film and it is all around great. If you want to watch this film download The Video Cellar's version.

rq52 - I hate to burst your bubble, but Kirk has a universal rep as being the biggesst, most narcicistic a-hole in hollywood. "Ace in the Hole," being described as the role which shows him most like his off-screen self. Stanwyck, on the other hand, had a rep for being kind and helpful to everyone, including the crew. Also, she as a total pro who never needed help from anyone. Kirk's memoire is pure bunk, probably just made up to justify being rude to her, as he was to all.

Tried several times to find the entire movie....seems like only the 1st 30 minutes are on line..sad..looked like a good flick ;-(

Kirk Douglas earns his money, but whoever thought this script was in a filmable condition was on the same sauce as Kirk's character. All the scenes go on far too long, and some of the set pieces, eg the initial car wreck and the 'murder', are completely dreadful. If you have seen every other film noir at archive.org you may as well download this, but you aren't missing anything. The child actors at the (overlong) beginning are pretty good for the time, otherwise 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers' is a waste of bandwidth. One star for Kirk Douglas' acting. Harsh? Feel free to disagree but don't say you weren't told.

I'm in agreement there was no reason to have the other guy hung..It was an open and shut slipped on the stairs deal, but they had to cover up the initial lie that a big man came in and killed the aunt in the beginning so someone had to take the eventual fall just to tie up a lose end, but so much time had passed it was unnecessary. By the time Walter graduated law school he would have known they were only kids when it happened and no court in the world would convict them as adults. With no witnesses other than Sam who didn't witness it anyway they were home free.
The last part where he killed her was plain silly. A bullet to the gut would be so painful she wouldn't have smiled for anything then just drop dead. Now a bullet to the head, maybe, but not to the stomach..He killed himself from the guilt and he would have been convicted of murdering her so that almost made sense, but Sam couldn't just walk away without testifying in court and blah, blah, blah.
Movies love to show people just dropping dead then framing an innocent person, but the 'technology' to get gun powder residue from peoples hands has been around since forever so Sam had nothing to fear testifying and people don't just leisurely stroll away after a shooting where they were at just moments before unless they're extraordinarily stupid.
Other than those two typical movie detail stupidities I loved it. Great flick!

Don't get me wrong, the rest of the movie is actually quite good. But the murder scene is so poorly acted, it was dreadful. And I have no idea why Martha needed to make up such a silly story about a man coming in. It was quite believable Ivers could have slipped on the stairs in the dark and fallen to her death. No need to frame anyone. I have no idea why Sam would ever choose Martha over Toni(except the money,I suppose). I'd have given this 3 1/2 stars if they let me.

When I was young color had just hit the screen but color TV sets and color broadcast stations were limited. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing because it made it easier to watch older black and white movies since it was hard to distinguish which was old and new. Unknowingly I was already unaware that I was already viewing classics. As I look back I realize a quality in movie making has been lost and traded for effects instead of character and development of story. Yes there are still great movies being made but the old black and whites' had a sense of theater flavored into their content. This is one that I've seen more often than I can remember and I enjoyed it each time.
To answer an earlier question:Does anyone know where the large file size went?.
It's still ther just look at the bottom of the download list where it says all files and then choose the largest one that ends with .ISO
HLG

I downloaded this movie on 4/21/08 and throughly enjoyed it. One of the best movies on here. However, I downloaded the 4 gig version and now I can't find anything except the small file sizes. Does anyone know where the large file size went? I give this the highest rating 5/5.

This has everything one could ask for.
Superb acting by all the cast, especially love, Lizabeth Scot's portrayal of the , Down on your luck,looking for love,lonely Dame and Van Heflin, Tough but tender and always in control of the situation. Scot reminds me a lot of Lauren Bacall, husky voice and all.
Wonderful story line and directing....Strange seeing Mr. Douglas play the love torn wimp.
A definite

Barbary Stanwick excels here, but why the dialogue is so downward spiralling, seems needless, since the well-developed story line could have taken so many better turns. I have never seen a Kirk Douglas film that did not have thae weakness -- a kind of worship of self-destruction that pulls others in, along with Douglas's character. I do not advise this film because of gratuitous & graphic nihilism; others will say it comes with the 'noire' territory. Therefore I must leave it unrated, but admit that parts are well-done indeed.

I love this film and the performances in at as well. Nice and sleezy.....

Van Heflin plays the male lead character in this movie, Sam Masterson.
This is a good film. It is in the film noir genre.
The film opens in 1928:
Adolescent Martha feels trapped by an over-bearing and mentally abusive aunt. She plans to run away with a friend named Sam Masterson. But, the mysterious circumstance surrounding the death of her aunt bind Martha to her scheming tutor, Mr. O'Neil and his son, Walter. And, Sam leaves town alone.
Next we are in 1946:
Sam visits his hometown on his way west and learns Martha is married to Walter O'Neil. Walter is now the district attorney. It seems that Martha has higher aspirations for Walter and Walter does what Martha says.
Sam befriends a woman named Antonia Marachek. When she runs into trouble with the local law, Sam goes to his old friend Walter to see if Walter can help Antonia.
Walter and Martha are suspicious of Sam's motives and feel that he is threatening them about the facts of the death of Martha's aunt 17 years earlier.
These three former friends uncover secrets that threaten to bring two of them to ruin.
What happened to Martha's aunt?
Who knows for sure what happened?
What are Sam's true feelings for Marta?
Does he care for Antonia?
Will Walter's plans for higher office be fulfilled?
What holds Martha and Walter's marriage together?

This movie is great in all aspects. Thrilling melodramatic, great acting. Great child actors, brilliant Kirk Douglas, Barbara Stanwyck and Lizabeth Scott.

This film is an interesting one. In Mr. Douglas'
book, "The Ragman's Son"; Kirk tried to get some advice from Stanwyck about acting and she kept ignoring him throughout the making of the picture. Years later when Mr. Douglas was a star, he was at a party and Stanwyck came over to him to ask advice on a film she was in. He smiled and walked away saying. "too late Barbara". I like his style.